Moulton, Graves Introduce COASTS Act

Friday

Jun 29, 2018 at 2:02 PMJun 29, 2018 at 2:02 PM

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressmen Seth Moulton (D-MA) and Garret Graves (R-LA) introduced the Creating Opportunity and Sustainability Through Science (COASTS) Act, which will help ensure that our coastal communities are more resilient and sustainable in the face of coastal degradation.

The legislation specifically:

Directs the Secretary of Commerce, through NOAA, to develop and carry out a competitive grant program focused on interdisciplinary coastal resilience and sustainability.
Requires that the grant program prioritize scalable, best practices that can be replicated in coastal cities and towns throughout the country.
Codifies into law an advisory panel comprised of marine scientists, researchers, and representatives of coastal communities to coordinate federal ocean research and coastal resiliency efforts.

"Communities on the North Shore and throughout coastal Massachusetts have come together to recover from this year’s storms. But we shouldn't be leaving these communities to fend for themselves against the rising threat of climate change," said Moulton. "Investing in coastal resilience saves taxpayer dollars and ensures that our coastal communities are more resilient and sustainable for the future. Congress has an obligation to help America confront the growing challenges of rising oceans and severe weather, and this bipartisan effort does just that."

Over forty percent of the American population lives near the coast, and according to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), that number is expected to increase by an additional 10 million people, or eight percent, by 2020. Without smart investments in coastal resiliency and adaptability, flooding in cities and towns is expected to cause damages totaling billions of dollars annually by the year 2050.

"We saw last year just how important coastal protection and resilience efforts are to our coastal communities, said Graves. "Almost annually, the federal government comes in after disasters and spends billions on recovery efforts, and 2017 was no exception: in many coastal areas, communities are still fighting to recover from Hurricanes Irma, Harvey, and Maria. What if we didn’t have to rebuild every time there was a disaster? It’s possible. At a fraction of current disaster costs, we could invest in projects that strengthen the resiliency of our coastal communities and ecosystems before disasters strike – helping avoid the loss of life and property and preventing having to come in on the back-end and spending twice as much to rebuild.

"The COASTS Act lays out a framework to make these types of investments so that America’s thriving coastal areas are better prepared to withstand disasters, especially major hurricanes and flooding. Natural disasters happen, and our coast is our first line of defense – getting this right should be a top priority," said Graves.

"On behalf of the Seawall Coalition, I want to commend Congressmen Moulton (D-MA) and Graves (R-LA) for their leadership on issues related to sea level rise, said Melissa Roberts, director of Seawall Coalition. "The Seawall Coalition believes this bill is an important step to aid resiliency efforts on a national level by hardwiring it into Federal programs. The COASTS Act will help promote a national infrastructure that adequately prepares and supports our communities affected by sea level rise."